Dollhouse 2.04 Belonging

[avrelia]

I finally watched 2.04 episode of Dollhouse, and I have weird thoughts about. Of course, the announcement of the cancellation of the show just went up, but it is not a particularly shocking surprise for anybody, I think. So, back to the aired episodes.


I didn't read much of reviews, but I happened upon a discussion whether it was an understandable choice for Priya/Sierra to return in Dollhouse on her own will, and I started to think. Which lead to some unexpected results (I need to do it more!).

I saw Sierra's story as a double-messed up Sleeping Beauty type. Let's face, the Sleeping Beauty story is pretty messed-up to begin with. Imagine, you fell asleep and wake up a hundred years later because some guy you the first time ever kisses you. Well, your castle, your parents and servants are there to ease the deal, but no friends, acquaintances, classmates, neighbors... the person you might have been in love with is long dead (or dying of extreme old age)... the world is unrecognizable, and you are relevant only as a curiosity. In older tales, you also might be waking up pregnant, which means your prince also had some fun with your body before giving you "true love's first kiss". or not "this" prince...

it's only pretty because it is a fairytale.

back to Sierra. She is in an enchanted dream, first induced by drugs, then by the brainwash. There is no witches, good or bad in her life, but there are too many princes. The prince Nolan puts her in the enchanted dream and then repeatedly rapes her, because he knows she won't ever come into a spitting distance of him awake...

The prince Topher wakes her up with his magic, because his conscience cannot take it anymore (yes, he has one, it just draws the line differently, for example he didn't have a problem with using Sierra himself - programmed as his geeky friend for his birthday).

So Priya wakes up, confronts the evil prince and kills him (defending herself, but without much regret, I believe). And here is the world she faces: she lost a year of her life. People who know her probably think that she is dead, and what would she tell them about this lost year? She has no money, no things, possibly to documents, her home is across the world. She realized that the guy she hated to begin with raped her a lot while she could not do anything about it. She has just killed him - a very powerful guy. That's quite a lot to deal with at once. Plus, one thing she remembers from this year - she is in love. Her prince, Victor is sleeping in his enchanted dream also, and who is going to wake him up?

IN the end, even if she could run away from Dollhouse as she might wish to, I understand why she did not. She woke up into a nightmare, and I cannot blame her for decided to fall asleep again.